1. What you need...

Here we go... We used:

0.5 m fabric

2 m twill ribbon (2 cm wide)

1 m jumbo ric-rac

But feel free to use other trims and make something uniquely you.

2. Cut it out

Cut out a 80 cm x  40 cm rectangle.

To make it straight:

Use the selvedge as one side.  Make a snip  through selvedge, then rip fabric.   If  fabric won't rip, pull a thread. A faint line forms to show you where to cut.

3. Finish edges

 Zigzag stitch round all 4 edges of fabric.

Change your sewing machine from a straight stitch to a large zigzag stitch and sew as close to the edge as you can.

Pivot at corners.

4. Iron hems

Iron a 5cm hem on top edge.

On other 3 edges iron a 1cm edge.

5. Trim corners

To neaten bottom corners, open out hem, fold in a triangle and trim.

6. Pin and stitch here

Pin hem in place.  Dashed line shows where you'll stitch, close to zig-zag.

Hand-baste in place first  if you're not confident about stitching these corners.

7. Top edge

Stitch side, bottom and other side hems, pivoting at corners.

Don't forget to backstitch. 

8. Attach ties

On front side of fabric, pin ribbon parallel to and 1 cm away from top edge.

Start pinning with middle of tape on middle of apron.

Stitch bottom edge of twill ribbon.

9. Stitch ties

Stitch top edge of twill ribbon.

Stitching in the same direction helps smooth out these two long seams. Backstitch securely when you stop at edge of fabric.

10. Finish ties

Fold ends of ribbon under twice, then sew a square to finish apron ties.

To sew ends neatly , mark  the square with an erasable pen before stitching.

11. Add trim

Pin and hand-baste trim to apron, folding ends under.

 Most trims other than rick-rack are sewn down with two lines of stitching - the way we did the twill ribbon.

12. Well done!

Email  us a picture.  We want to see it too!